June 9, 1992

Islam, as an enduring means of ordering spiritual and social life, is taking over from the failed ideology of Soviet Communism throughout Central Asia. After more than 70 years of official atheism, dispersal of nationalities and harsh suppression of Islam, the very ideas of independence and democracy in the region have taken on an Islamic coloration.

A revolution in the way cars are made that started in a small, nondescript office building in a suburb of this Swiss city is sweeping the General Motors Corporation. Its code word, coined by a Spaniard, is "Picos." Repeated like a shibboleth by executives at G.M.'s modest European headquarters, Picos is short for "program for improvement and cost optimization of suppliers." In essence, the term covers the mix of ruthless probing, consultation, orders and ultimatums that J. Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua used to slash the cost of parts for G.M. Europe, making it hugely profitable while its Detroit-based parent piled up losses.

HUMAN chromosomes, shaped like cinch-waisted sausages and sequestered in nearly every cell of the body, are famed as the place where human genes reside. But now some scientists are finding that a few small architectural details of the chromosomes are at least as tantalizing as the 100,000 genes they harbor. Biologists have discovered that at the very tips of the chromosomes are extraordinary structures built of six DNA letters repeated over and over, thousands of times, like monotonous molecular chants. They are learning that these structures, called telomeres, are profoundly important at every stage of the cell's life, protecting the chromosomes against harm, organizing them into their proper position and, most provocatively, possibly serving as a sort of timekeeping mechanism that tells the cell how old it is.

Yes, it seemed inevitable: Batman sells again. The Caped Crusader is back for a second try at SMASH! HIT! status at the box office, but Warner Brothers is peddling the movie "Batman Returns" far differently from the way it promoted "Batman" in the summer of 1989.

The Supreme Court said today that it would defer until its next term a ruling on whether Federal judges had authority under a Reconstruction-era civil rights law to order protesters to stop blocking access to abortion clinics. The case was one of the most closely watched of the current term and was scheduled for decision before the term ended in the next few weeks. It will now be scheduled for a new argument after the next term begins in October.